| Sowing's 2025 |
| 25 |  | Great Grandpa
Patience, Moonbeam
A beautiful, cohesive indie-rock sunset that aches and swells with joy in equal measure. |
| 24 |  | Matt Maeson
A Quiet and Harmless Living
Manchester Orchestra lite, featuring Manchester Orchestra for good measure. Quite often will hit you square in the gut. |
| 23 |  | Madilyn Mei
A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1
As wild as a circus, but with lyrics that subtly explore identity and humanity. Step right up, at the very least you'll be entertained. |
| 22 |  | The Callous Daoboys
I Don't Want to See You in Heaven
Doesn't hit quite the same as Celebrity Therapist, but this is still massive and intense - and it definitely solidifies the Daoboys as one of the best post-hardcore acts around. |
| 21 |  | Gigi Perez
At The Beach, In Every Life
Always infectious but occasionally breathtaking (see: 'Nothing, Absolutely'). Has indie-pop found its new titan? |
| 20 |  | Black Foxxes
The Haar
When you feel like you're at your lowest, The Haar will be there to share in your misery one subdued, eerie note at a time. |
| 19 |  | Car Seat Headrest
The Scholars
Who said rock operas were dead? The Scholars is massive in scope and sounds larger than life, with just about every song delivering catchy melodies and uptempo thrills. The Who would be proud. |
| 18 |  | Sabrina Carpenter
Man's Best Friend
This is everything Short n Sweet should have been: consistent front-to-end bangers that double down on Sabrina's sexuality and see her own it even more confidently than before. |
| 17 |  | The Sound of Animals Fighting
The Maiden
A disjointed, highly experimental piece that also features some of Anthony Green's best work since Blue Sky Noise. |
| 16 |  | Jason Isbell
Foxes in the Snow
A very tempered, acoustically-driven outing from one of country's most well-known troubadours. Ideal for moments of quiet serenity or lonely contemplation. |
| 15 |  | Miley Cyrus
Something Beautiful
Miley's magnum opus and crowning achievement is something to behold. It's a truly admirable transformation from run-of-the-mill pop into something far more daring - an 80s dance inspired fever dream which sees Cyrus evolve before our very eyes. |
| 14 |  | Motion City Soundtrack
The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World
What started as just a solid reunion album for me eventually grew into one of my favorite releases from the band. It's catchy, emotional, and occasionally grandiose; spiritually their self-titled album as it contains everything that makes them great. |
| 13 |  | Thrice
Horizons/West
Thrice manage to intertwine raw intensity with instinctive beauty in a way that vaguely recalls their Vheissu heyday. It's easily their best post-reunion album and the replay value feels endless. |
| 12 |  | Floodlights
Underneath
One of the most pleasant surprises of the year, Underneath is an emotional wrecking ball that balances careful introspection with universal truths: "In time, you'll find love walks the wire." |
| 11 |  | Lady Gaga
Mayhem
Lady Gaga's triumphant return sees her garner bona fide rock star status, with a slew of explosive pop tracks that range from dancefloor bops to Bowie-esque. Nearly two decades into her career, Lady Gaga is on absolute fire; Mayhem is 2025's pop AOTY and also the best collection of songs she's ever delivered. |
| 10 |  | The Mountain Goats
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan
You probably either forgot about this band or wrote them off as a legacy act a decent while ago, but The Mountain Goats have quietly dropped one of the most cohesive and aesthetically gorgeous concept records of the decade. It's understated, elegant, beautiful, and emotionally stirring. Let the waves of gentle pianos and strings sweep you into a state of bliss. |
| 9 |  | Geese
Getting Killed
Listening to Getting Killed in a socio-political context is like meeting your soul mate on a dating app. It's the last place you'd expect to find someone who truly understands you, and there's no definable reason you can write down and point to proving why they're "the one" - they simply get you. On Getting Killed, Geese embody the exhaustion and anger of life in 2025. |
| 8 |  | Ethel Cain
Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You
Ethel Cain's sophomore release - and the Preacher's Daughter prequel - turns out to be every bit as carefully thought out in terms of narrative and is perhaps even more beautiful musically. I'm not sure another album this year hit me as hard as listening to this one with the lyrics pulled up. Just make sure you listen to Preacher's Daughter first to experience the full effect. |
| 7 |  | Moving Mountains
Pruning of the Lower Limbs
Pruning of the Lower Limbs is one of the most poignant rock album I've heard in years. It's soft and lush, but also explosive and highly emotive. 'Everyone is Happy, and Nothing is Good' is one of the most bittersweet tracks of the year and marks my personal favorite here, but no moment illustrates how well-balanced Pruning is than the closing duo of 'Blue's acoustic sorrow and 'Wedding Clothes's burst of uplifting momentum. |
| 6 |  | Hayley Williams
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Hayley Williams has finally come into her own as a songwriter in a way that eclipses even her best work with Paramore. This album is an infectious, melodically adventurous, flavorfully genre-bending delight that I simply never saw coming...even when Petals for Armor showed flashes. Ego is her best work, full stop. |
| 5 |  | Noah Cyrus
I Want My Loved Ones to Go With Me
The 2020s country music renaissance is real, and Cyrus' second LP marks another cornerstone moment. From the momentous guitar solo that caps off Cyrus' panoramic vocals in 'I Saw The Mountains' to the elegant, longing folk of 'Man In The Field', no Cyrus has ever sounded this mature or stately. Atmospherically breathtaking and lyrically honest, I Want My Loved Ones to Go With Me sees Noah find her sound and execute it to perfection. Don't let the name brand fool you: this is top-tier country/folk. |
| 4 |  | The Antlers
Blight
If there's one thing you can count on from The Antlers, it's that their albums will always grow. Blight is unremarkable on the surface, but its stunning sonic layers and terrifying messages will reveal themselves with time. This album is mesmerizing, but not in a comforting way. Those who dig in and give this the time it deserves will be rewarded. |
| 3 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Dreams Of Being Dust
TWIABP continue the rich emo tradition of losing their innocence, turning to post-hardcore, and screaming their lungs out. If Brand New started the trend with TDAGARIM and Daisy, and if Foxing did it in a career-defining way at the end of 2024, then Dreams of Being Dust feels like the next successor. It's angry at the world, exhausted, and exasperated with just how bleak humanity as a whole has become. In short: We're fucked, and TWIABP are tired of sugarcoating things for us. |
| 2 |  | Yellowcard
Better Days
Yellowcard's triumphant return is basically just one epic pop-punk banger after another. It's the catchiest record of the year in my estimation, and also one of the most upbeat and energetic. It rivals Ocean Avenue in terms of its overall marketability, which is a massive feat for the band. At times I do miss the prevalence of tender, emotional moments and touching lyrics - but 'Barely Alive' and 'Big Blue Eyes' are big enough tear-jerkers to keep this from feeling too manufactured. A very solid effort from one of my all-time favorite bands. |
| 1 |  | Rosalia
Lux
This feels like a classical magnum opus and pop masterpiece rolled into one. It's got massive crescendos that feel like cinematic world-enders, but also tremendously subtle, mind-blowingly beautiful background moments that might go unnoticed on first listen. The fact that Rosalia sings this in fourteen different languages is impressive, but the truth is that Lux's beauty transcends language altogether. It's something that we all can listen to, finding common ground in its pure, unbridled passion. A piece like this runs away with AOTY status. |
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